{"id":457570,"date":"2026-02-06T12:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457570\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:32:10","slug":"why-the-canadiens-wont-risk-waiving-arber-xhekaj-despite-growing-speculation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/457570\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Canadiens won\u2019t risk waiving Arber Xhekaj, despite growing speculation"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Jan <\/p>\n

Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Since Samuel Blais successfully cleared waivers to join the Laval Rocket, the imagination of some fans has gone into overdrive.<\/p>\n

Speculation has started circulating on social media over the past few hours: should the Canadiens try the same maneuver with Arber Xhekaj?<\/p>\n

The idea, proposed by an internet user, would be to allow the “Sheriff” to get ice time and quality training during the Olympic break.<\/p>\n

However, the contractual reality and the player\u2019s value complicate this idealistic scenario.<\/p>\n

Analyst Marco D\u2019Amico quickly put an end to the speculation with a blunt and unequivocal response.<\/p>\n

According to him, there is no chance that number 72 would clear waivers without being claimed by another team.<\/p>\n

“He doesn’t make it through waivers…”, D\u2019Amico simply stated, shattering the hopes of those who wanted to see Xhekaj dominate in the American Hockey League.<\/p>\n

A risk Kent Hughes absolutely cannot take with Arber Xhekaj<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s tell it like it is: Xhekaj\u2019s situation is the complete opposite of Samuel Blais\u2019.<\/p>\n

Xhekaj, unlike Blais, is a young, rugged defenseman, a rare commodity that the other 31 general managers would love to add to their lineup.<\/p>\n

Placing him on waivers would essentially be handing him over to the competition for free, on a silver platter.<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that Kent Hughes is a calculated manager who would never make such a glaring evaluation mistake.<\/p>\n

Even if the goal of getting him more ice time is a noble one, the price to pay, the likely loss of Xhekaj, is far too high.<\/p>\n

This confirms that despite the ups and downs of his season, Arber Xhekaj\u2019s market value remains strong across the league.<\/p>\n

The file is therefore closed before it was ever officially opened: Xhekaj stays in Montreal.<\/p>\n

Previously on Montreal Hockey Fanatics<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

13 HOURS AGO|436 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Why the Canadiens won\u2019t risk waiving Arber Xhekaj, despite growing speculation<\/p>\n

Are you convinced that another team would claim Arber Xhekaj off waivers?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: David Kirouac-Imagn Images Since Samuel Blais successfully cleared waivers to join the Laval…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[27038,49,48,59262,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-457570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-arber-xhekaj","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-marco-d","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}